Pumpkin tracks: This compilation disc contains no new material. It is still a rather rare gem, as it was only released in Scandinavia. At the time of its release though, it was kind of cool to have all the old vinyl-EP- and singles-only stuff on CD for the first time. But all of those tracks have later been added to re-released album etc.

Live in the UK: Live offering, recorded in Scotland, of all places. It's a good record, but not truly a classic. It's cool to hear Kiske sing Hansen's songs though. And I like it when you can hear the crowd, it is after all live. Helloween was getting big enough for EMI to show interest in the by now.

Got my CD signed by Kai Hansen, when I met him after a Gamma Ray-gig in Oslo.

Keeper Part II is another classic. All songs are great on here (even the sillier songs). I remember one of the firsy times my son heard Rise Or Fall he commented on the weird song with the animal sounds at the end (he was pretty young at the time).

Ok I guess im going to move on.


In 1991 the band had a new release in the US but it would be the last one for a long time. It wasn't a release with new songs but it was a best of compilation called The Best The Rest The Rare. Its has a different track list than Pumpkin Tracks but includes songs for the first 4 albums plus some bonus tracks. Again this Isn't a must have but something cool if you dont own anything from this period.

1991 also saw the release of a new single, but it wouldnt be heard in the US, for the song "Kids Of The Century" which also featured the songs "Blue Suede Shoes", "Sh*t and Lobster" and a special interview with the band describing where they have been since the release of Keepers 2.

Along with this release there is once again a change in the musical direction, but it wouldnt be noticed til the release of their fourth studio album called "Pink Bubbles Go Ape". Gone were the pumpkins from the previous albums instead the artwork was designed by Storm Thorgerson who had previously worked with Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin and UFO to name a few. Also gone was the sound of the previous albums. This was a more stripped down Helloween. Still the album had a few fast songs but it was lacking the anthem like songs from the Keepers albums. Instead it was in the direction of them trying to be a more commercial band which in the end really did not work out too well. The album got a lot of harsh reviews and it also tension started to build up within the band.

Despite all the problems with the band during this time I still think this is a good album not great but good. My favorites off this one would be Kids Of The Century, Number One, Mankind, The Chance, and Your Turn. The rest I like as well but they just dont stand out as much. The song Heavy Metal Hampsters my friends and I find funny but it really should have been released as a B Side.

The song Number One was released as a singe and also featured the songs Les Hamburgious Walkways and You Run With The Pack.
This was only the begining for yet one last change within the bands style on the next album. You just might want to lock up the wife and kids for this one...

THE BEST, THE REST... is another album that I have never gotten round to upgrading from tape to CD (and I understand that like I WANT OUT LIVE, it's a rather pricey collectible CD nowadays, so I guess I'm going to continue to wait). If memory serves, a couple of the songs on it were new to the U.S. at the time as they were used as single B-Sides overseas. I love that goofy cartoon pumpkin cover!!

PINK BUBBLES... weird, just WEIRD. As soon as you see the girl about to deep throat a fish on the front cover you know this is not going to be an easy listen. Like PRD said, it has a couple of decent tracks ("Kids of the Century," "Going Home," and "Number One" are my faves) but the rest is either blah or flat out terrible ("Heavy Metal Hamsters"? WTF??). From what I gather, Kiske was already losing interest in singing heavy metal at this point and the legal battles with Noise Records over their plan to switch to EMI Records had taken a toll on the band members' friendships and creativity. When it was first released in '91 (three years after the last studio album) it didn't even come out in the U.S. and after reading some absolutely savage reviews of it in magazines I was in no hurry to spend big $$ on an import copy. I finally picked it up used around '95 or so, and after the first spin, I was glad I waited and didn't spend a lot on it.

I forgot to add that this was actually the first cd that I ever bought. I even bought it before I had a cd player. I knew I was getting one so I grabbed it while the store I saw it in had it. At the time it was expensive but thinking of how much I spent on other cds through the years the $25 I spent wasnt so bad. I couldnt wait to get this sucker home that day. I took it to my friends house who made a copy of it on a cassette so I could listen to it. I liked it but in no way did it remind me of the other stuff.

I never knew about the trouble with Noise Records during the time, I remember wondering why Helloween had vanished (except for releasing live EPs and compilations). But I was quickly moving on into other musical areas, so alot of bands fell off my radar screen during this era.

I've always been curious about Pink Bubbles though...I actually love the album cover (yes, I'm weird).

The album cover isnt that bad. There are far worse ones. I always thought of it as its just their sense of humor. The thing that bothered me though is the logo was so small that if you didnt know what the cover was going to look like you would probably walk right past it.

The Best,The Rest,The Rare is good for the completists so they can get the songs previously released on singles only (I forget which ones right now).

The Kids of the Century single is pretty cool just for the 2 exclusive tracks (Sh*t and Lobster is actually a pretty good song and the Elvis cover is interesting to hear but does belong as a B side track).

Pink Bubbles Go Ape (what does that mean,anyhow?) is actually quite enjoyable to me. I don't think any of the songs are that bad (even the laughable Heavy Metal Hamsters). I have a version (a bootleg perhaps) with about 7 bonus tracks (all taken from various singles,including singles from the next release,Chameleon) whcih makes the album that much better to me.

The, Best, The Rest, The Rare: Compilation album, with the best from the first 3 albums. There are also 3 rare b-sides on it, and that makes it worth buying. Helloween had an amazing back catalogue already.

PBGA: I remember seeing/hearing "Kids of the Century" on Headbanger's Ball, and loving it! Couldn't wait to hear the album! Ad although the album got very bad reviews, I aøways liked it from the very first listen. It's not as good as the 'Keeper...'- albums, of course, but it contains some of Kiske's best work, and some of my favorite Helloween tracks. The worst thing about it, is the cover art. No pumpkins!!

Killer tracks: Kids Of The Century, Number One, Mankind, The Chance, Your Turn

What actually baffles me about my love for Helloween is that the 2 Keepers albums are what gave them legendary status, and nothing before or after has ever really sounded like those 2 albums.

The Best, The Rest, The Rare was my introduction to the band and the first Helloween cd I purchased.

My roommate at the time had the cd and I used to borrow it all the time when I was lifting weights. I finally came across a used copy, so I purchased it for myself. For the longest time, it was the only Helloween disc I owned. I've since picked up a few discs here and there, but my discography is far, far from complete.

And it's still the one that gets the most spins from me as well. If I'm in a European-speed metal kinda mood, The Best, The Rest... is the one I reach for.

Ok, I warned you on the last album, it is now 1993 and with tensions getting worse within the band over their musical direction they release the album DUN DUN DUN... Chameleon. Where did this thing come from? One minute they are a Speed/Power Metal band the next they have orchestra's, trumpets, accoustic guitars... wheres the double bass? One thing is back though, The Pumpkins!

This album was a huge departure from anything, even Pink Bubbles, than what they have ever done and became their most unsuccessful album to date. During the tour for this album the tension within the band got so bad that drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg begins to have problems with his psychological condition and was fired from the band. He was replaced by Richie Abdel Nabi (who?) to finish the tour. When the tour ends EMI releases them of their contract and Michael Kiske leaves the band due to musical differences (and also because of his religious beliefs) and leaves the Heavy Metal world.

I know a lot of people really really hate this album because it is just not the Helloween that they grew up on, but me I have always thought that it was a good album again like Pink Bubbles not great but good. Some of my all time favorite Helloween songs are on this album like First Time, When The Sinner, Giants (why cant they play this song live?), Windmill, Music, I Believe and Longing.

Surprisingly. with the turn out of how unsuccessful the album was there were four singles released.

I Dont Want To Cry No More with the songs Red Socks and the Smell Of Trees (Where they got that title i'll never know), and Aint Got Nothin Better.

Step Out Of Hell with the songs Cut In The Middle, Introduction (really funny), Get Me Outta Here.

When The Sinner with the songs I Dont Care You Dont Care, and Oriental Journey.

Lastly a single for Windmill that featured the same songs as Step Out Of Hell but omited that song. There was also a video released for the song When The Sinner.

All these songs have been released on the reissue of Chameleon.

Next to come would be a much needed rebirth for this band and a huge breath of fresh air, but would it be too late? There is also a sad and unfortunate ending for one of the original members... To Be Continued...

Both these albums have decent moments but they are so different for them. I am very glad they recovered on later albums.

Another album that didn't go down well with the fans. And this time I agree. I really liked it when I first heard it though. But it actually took me over five years after it's release to get a copy of it. And by then I could clearly see that this was not the same Helloween I had learned to love. It's not all that far apart from 'Pink Bubbles....'and you might say that there is some natural "growth" between those albums. But it is also clear, at least in hindsight, that this was Kiske's baby, more than a Helloween album. They were trying to commercialize their sound here.
The pumpkins are back though, but only inside the booklet. The coverart itself is one of the ugliest in the history of metal.

Killer tracks: When The Sinner, Revolution Now, I Believe, Giants

I'll stick up for Chameleon. I think it's a pretty good album for what it is.Is it even close to earlier Helloween ? No way. Which is why everyone hates this thing. But I think most songs on here are pretty good. The cover reminds me of something Genesis would put out.


My faves : First Time, I Don't Wanna Cry No More ,Giants, In The Night

I got one word for CHAMELEON: crapola. I bought an import copy of this one, hated it, traded it away. End of story.

haha Yea I bought this as an import as well. I remember back when this came out I was excited to get it. Since I was young and didnt have a job I had to get my mom to order it for me over the phone from some cd place that used to put advertisements in the metal magazines. I wish I could remember the name of it, they used to have a lot of really good stuff. Maybe someone else remembers. The last time I ever got any sort of update from them it was this somewhat little book with a green cover and there was a drawing of some kind of monster looking thing on the front. When I told my mom it was $35 at first she was like no way are you spending that much money on a cd. In the end I eventually got her to give in and order it for me haha.

All of my friends were jelous that I had it and of course they aaallll wanted to borrow it and as stupid and trusting as I was I did. In the matter of a few days I got the bad news that one of my friends supposedly spilt milk on it and ruined the whole thing. Needless to say I was pissed when I got my cd back with just the case and back instert. It would be a long time before I ever saw that again too. I ended up buying the record to make up for it and then I scanned all the pages to make a new booklet but it looked like crap. Not too long after that I found it in a store and told my friend. So he bought the cd and gave me the booklet since he was the one who ruined it. So once again I was somewhat happy.

Looking through the booklet I noticed one of the pictures looked different. The cat that was drawn for the song crazy cat had the middle finger shown in my original booklet. In the newer one it was cut off to censor it I suppose, and what a chop up job it was too. That bothered me, something so stupid and little I know but still I have learned ever since anyone who wants to borrow something gets a copy instead. No more borrowing. Except for my brother who used to take all of my cds so he would have something to listen to in his car and when I went to go play them I would find them all scratched up and skipping. I dont know how many times I had to replace Dream Theater Awake.

I have this album only for completeness and don't listen to it. All other Helloween albums are so much better that this one. I was so disappointed when I bought this.

After the huge disappointment from the previous album Chameleon and the release of 2 band members, Helloween forged on and searched for replacements for a new vocalist and drummer. They would find a new vocalist in Andi Deris who was fronting Pink Cream 69 at the time. Andi was hesitent on joining Helloween at first because PC69 was something completely different from Helloween. Soon he gave into the idea and joined the band. Soon to follow was new drummer Uli Kusch who coincidently played in Gamma Ray, Kai hansens band as well as Holy Moses and countless other european bands. This began a new start for Helloween. Away went the orchestras and horn sections and back came a sound fans were more familiar with, power metal! They signed to a new record label called Castle Records and released the new album entitled Master Of The Rings in 1994. Most noticeable was Andis voice. He didnt sing in the same style as Kiske. Andis vocals are more on the grittier side and somewhat similar to Kai Hansen which made for a perfect fit.

The style of this album started where they left off with the Keeper albums. This was also the return of Helloween albums being sold in the US. A year later it would be released with a bonus cd featuring 7 tracks including Cold Sweat (Thin Lizzy Cover), Silicon Dreams, Grapowski's Malmsuite 1001 (In D-Doll), Can't Fight Your Desire, Star Invasion, I Stole Your Love (Kiss Cover), and Closer To Home (Grand Funk Railroad cover sung by Roland Grapow) taken from their singles Sole Survivor, Mr. Ego, Perfect Gentlemen and Where the Rain Grows. They also filmed videos from the songs Perfect Gentlemen, Where The Rain Grows and Mr. Ego.

A VHS was released with all the videos up til this point called The Pumpkin Video.

In 1995 tragedy struck and original Helloween drummer Ingo Schwitchenberg commited suicide. Im not a 100% sure how though. Ive read countless stories claiming he jumped in front of a train to jumping out of a hotel room. Either way it was very unfortunate since I thought he was a great drummer and I would have liked to see him in another band possibly even in Gamma Ray with Kai.

I couldnt wait to get a hold of this album. A couple of my friends already had this when it came out and they told me about the changes. I didnt know what to think. To hear that just about every member except for 2 were out of my favorite band I wasn't sure if I was going to still like them or not. When I finally got a hold of it I was very pleased with the outcome. It was Definetly a huge step up from Chameleon and I thought I would miss Kiske on vocals but Andi was almost like a breath of fresh air and brought this band back to life.

This is a definite must have album if your into the Deris era of the band. The opening track Sole Survivor refers back to the Keeper abums and actually at the time the band wanted this album to be Keepers III, but in the end they obviously decided against it. The only clunker would be the song The Game Is On. Its a song about a kid playing Game Boy. Theres some cool game sounds throughout the song but otherwise its a little too corney even for Helloween.

Other highlights are: Why?, Perfect Gentleman, Where The Rain Grows, and Still We Go

MASTER OF THE RINGS ...once again, this album was released overseas quite a while before the U.S., and after getting burnt by paying import $$ for PINK BUBBLES and CHAMELEON I wasn't sure whether I wanted to get my heart (and wallet) broken again. I knew nothing about Andi Deris and had never heard his previous band (PC 69) so the news that he was replacing Kiske was a big "?" for me. I only had reviews in foreign magazines to go by as a measuring stick, but the British "Metal Hammer" mag gave it a decent review (they said it was their best since the KEEPER albums) so that sounded promising. Anyway, I got lucky at a rock-n-roll/sci-fi collectibles show here in New Jersey in early '95 (an annual event which was my source for a lotta imports back then) and found a used copy of MASTER for only ten bucks. When I gave it the first spin I said "Thank GOD, they're back!" Deris' gritty vocal style took some getting used to at first but the songs were stronger than they'd been in quite some time. I especially liked "Perfect Gentleman," "Sole Survivor," and "Why."

...of course, shortly after I bought an import copy of the CD, it finally got released in the US, and just to add insult to injury, the U.S. version was a 2-CD set with all of the various b-sides and bonus tracks from the European singles on the second disc. D'OH! Fortunately I had a friend with a CD burner who hooked me up with a copy of the bonus CD so I didn't have to buy the album again.

With this album, Helloween returned to the good graces of metal fans worldwide, and deservedly so. It still holds up well today (well, except for "The Game Is On")...

I have (or had) 4 different versions of this album. The import one with the shiney silver logo, then I bought the 2 cd US version but gave away the first disc to a friend then I got a Japan one with stickers and a really cool picture booklet and lastley the new reissued 2 disc one haha

Rings is a pretty good album. It sounds fresh and more importantly it's fast, power metal.

Andi Deris, well, I never thought he was anywhere near Kiske's talent, and I even like Hansen much better, but somehow his arrival marked a change for the better for Helloween. Uli Kusch is of course a great drummer, one of my all-time favourites, and he even helped write some songs later on. Grapow, everyone knows he's great, so there wasn't really a reason this lineup wouldn't work.

I don't mind the Game Is On, it's a fast, catchy song with fun lyrics. That's Helloween. The album kind of lacks some real awesome classic tracks though, so I don't rank it as high as the later Deris-era releases. And it can not touch Keepers or Jericho. Still good though, and an improvement over the last two.

I haven't heard any of the bonus songs, because I only have the original print of the album.

Favourite tracks: Sole Survivor, Still We Go

It's been a while since I listened to this album. But I played the crap out of it when it was new. Yes, Helloween had returned to former glory, albeit with a slightly more melodic approach. But Deris vocals will never be Kiske. So although I love this album, and it is probably the strongest one with Deris, it will never be a full on classic.

Killer tracks: Perfect Gentleman, Where The Rain Grows, Still We Go

I'm missing only this one from the Deris era (not including the live albums) but I'm determined to get it the next time I see it around here.

I love this album and I enjoy Deris voice more then the others so for me, this signaled a great change.

Rings is an awesome release. I don't think there really is a weak song on it.I have the 2 cd version (found at a flea market for $5.00) and play this one alot. I think it may be my favorite Deris release. The 2nd cd is a great listen as well (but strangely I Stole Your Love is listed as I Stole Your Heart).